City Services Join Liberal Agenda as Issue in Berkeley : Elections: The progressive mayor is narrowly leading a moderate challenger. Voters express concern about trash, potholes and other basic matters.

Long known as one of America’s most liberal cities, Berkeley is feeling the winds of change, with voters signaling a shift in concerns from filling progressive political agendas to filling potholes and other basic city needs.

On Tuesday, the issue of whether a progressive or a moderate should run City Hall went to the voters in a mayoral runoff that some described as a referendum on Berkeley’s tradition of left-leaning politics.

Progressive incumbent Democrat Loni Hancock met challenger Frederick D. Weekes, a moderate Democrat and first-term councilman, in a race so close that final results may not be known for several days, when all of the absentee ballots are counted, election officials said.

Early returns showed Hancock with a narrow lead.

A Superior Court Judge agreed Tuesday to hear arguments Friday on whether mail-in ballots should be counted if they were postmarked by 8 p.m. Tuesday but were not received until after Election Day. Weekes’ campaign sought the hearing which was opposed by Hancock’s campaign and the city.

Hancock was forced into the runoff Nov. 6, when she fell a mere 38 votes short of what she needed to stay in office and see through reforms on recycling, downtown redevelopment, environmental protections and homeless programs.

At the same time, Hancock’s self-described “progressive” slate of candidates, called Berkeley Citizens Action, also suffered major setbacks--losing control of both the City Council and the rent control board after a decade of running city government.

Regardless of the outcome of the mayor’s race, it is with a measure of surprise that Berkeley--America’s first city to boycott South Africa’s apartheid and ban chlorofluorocarbons--finds itself at this crossroads.

“This is still a community that is terrifically concerned about environmental issues; it’s still a community that holds liberal values,” said Shirley Dean, a moderate council member. “That hasn’t changed. But people want more effective government. People think that the time for rhetoric and symbolism is over.”

A center of the free speech movement and Vietnam War protests in the 1960s, Berkeley entered the 1980s with its radicalism intact. Voters passed the toughest rent-control law in the nation and gave the Citizens Action slate control of city government.

Before long, local wags were noting that Berkeley was the only municipality in America with its own foreign policy. Former Mayor Gus Newport, who served from 1979 to 1986, earned the nickname “Gallopin’ Gus” for his frequent visits to Nicaragua, Cuba and Granada to confer with Third World revolutionaries.

But during the past year, a backlash formed among many residents who were upset over what they saw as a declining standard of living. While local taxes have risen, some complained about inadequate city services, such as street cleaning and trash collection.

Discontent spread as Berkeley’s 1960s-era landmarks--such as Telegraph Avenue and People’s Park, both near UC Berkeley--became littered, crime-ridden and home to a growing number of transients.

Against that backdrop, Weekes led a surprisingly strong campaign, forcing Hancock into a runoff by hammering away at charges that she mismanaged the city. He promises to increase police and street repair services while eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy.

“I voted for Fred Weekes because I’m upset about the state of things,” one woman said at a North Berkeley polling place. “All the energy being put (by Hancock) into being radical could be put into providing more basic services.”

Hancock’s campaign replied that crime and homelessness are national problems that Berkeley can’t solve single-handedly. The mayor points to her achievements.

“The (city’s) problems are more a function of state and federal government behavior than what the government of Berkeley has been doing,” said Russell Bass, co-chairman of Citizens’ Action.

“Loni has been very positive and constructive,” he said. “There are few aspects of life in Berkeley that haven’t benefitted during the past four years.”

A victory for Weekes would not necessarily mean that Berkeley would shift completely to the right, observers note. After all, Weekes has been campaigning as an “Adlai Stevenson Democrat” and promises to seek a statewide ban on firearms.

“Only in Berkeley would Fred be considered a moderate,” said campaign manager Kevin Gillis.